


Truth Unraveled

by Dobby_and_Padfoot



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz, Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Post-Scorpia Rising
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-01-22 20:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18535300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dobby_and_Padfoot/pseuds/Dobby_and_Padfoot
Summary: Alex Rider finally got out of MI6 at the age of 18. Knowing he would never be able to hold a civilian job, Alex, with the help of Joe Byrne of the CIA, gets himself a position at the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. When his past starts to catch up to him, how will Alex react? Will he tell his team the truth, or run from his past, yet again?Prologue is just a few flashes that I consider important for backstory. They are chronological and hopefully make sense if anything needs clarification, let me know, and I'll fix it. Some parts might seem strange or coincidental. If it's too much, let me know, but you can just put some of it off as writer liberties because it probably won't be brought back up again.Also, there is a fair chance that Alex might be slightly overpowered. I know he is in a lot of stories, and personally I kind of like to read about an amazing Alex. If it bothers you, sorry. It shouldn't be too much, but it will be there.Alex Rider is Canon through SCORPIA Rising plus additional history, and Criminal Minds should be close to Canon, but not all details exactly, through Season 5. Obviously, neither belong to me.





	1. Prologue

 

**February 27, 2004**

 

Both receptionists at the front desk of the Royal and General Bank on the 27th of February recognized the young man that entered. Normally, they wouldn't look twice before sending him through to the elevator, but the look on his face made them glance back. 

 

Generally, when he entered the Bank, it was with a scowl firmly in place on his face, but today he was smirking. Now, the receptionists didn't know the young man very well, but those who did would've said he looked almost gleeful. 

 

He got off the elevator on the sixteenth floor and stalked towards the office of the heads of MI6's office. He threw open the doors. This itself was not actually all that rare for him; he took pleasure in anything that could cause irritation to the heads. 

 

Mrs. Jones- her deputy was out of the office at the time- looked up as he entered. 

 

"Agent Rider," Mrs. Jones said with only the barest undertone of surprise, "What are you doing here?"

 

"Not 'Agent'," he said with a smirk, "I no longer work for MI6," he threw down a hastily scribbled note, "I'm assuming this will do for resignation since I was never a legal agent to begin with."

 

"Agent Rider," Mrs. Jones said, trying to keep her voice emotionless, but failing to keep out the slight panic in her tone. She knew as well he did that it was well within his power to get out. She continued, after gaining control of her voice, "MI6 is your legal guardian. If you leave-"

 

He cut her off there, "Yeah, Jones; that's where you're wrong. I no longer require a legal guardian, seeing as I'm eighteen." His voice was flat, like what he was saying was unimportant, but the smirk that remained plastered on his face showed he knew he was out, and nothing she said would keep him from it.

 

In one final attempt to show her control, she said, "With you gone we would need to send other agents onto the missions you usually do. Agent Daniels, for instance,-"

 

"Went back to the SAS? Yeah. I heard actually."

 

"Where would you even go? You don't have a VISA. No education past your A-levels. And you'd never adapt to civilian life," she smiled a little as though the thought had only just come to her.

 

He stared at her in a bored manner until her admittedly short tirade was over then said, in an equally bored tone, "Are you done? First off, I have my college education nearly completed. Joe has been helping me get the necessary credits over the last three years, as well as helping me find a suitable job in America. As for the VISA. Joe managed to get me citizenship and a new identity while I was in Egypt after I turned eighteen. Anything else?"

 

He turned to leave without waiting for a response, but she said anyways, "We need you. You're our best agent."

 

He pulled open the door and said, "Find a new best agent." Then, he slammed the door and left to board his flight.

\-----

 

**February 29, 2004**

 

The director of the CIA (he'd been promoted from deputy director nearly three years prior), Joe Byrne, watched Alex work the computer with poorly disguised shock. No matter how often he worked with Alex he never got used to the many skills he was accomplished in. Although, that didn't explain to him exactly why Alex felt the need to make changes to the new identity Joe's agents had prepared for him, "So why was it you're changing the history on your new identity?"

 

Alex looked up at him momentarily but continued to work as he said, "Calm down, Joe. I just needed to make it more believable. You do realize my missions left me with no shortage of scars? Right?"

 

"Of course," he said shortly making it clear what he thought about all of that. Alex never should have been through any of that. He felt quite guilty for his own part in Alex's first few missions.

 

"Well, I rather think that would raise some questions when there is no hint as to how they occurred in my file."

 

"What exactly are you changing?" Joe asked skeptically and now more than a little curious. He was also surprised he hadn't thought to mention that to his agent in charge of the file. 

 

"I just added a death certificate for my mom when I was fourteen, followed by some admittances into the hospital soon after. A few visits from CPS that didn't reveal enough to get me out. GSW to the chest at fifteen. Luckily, I was found in an alley and rushed to the hospital. My father was suspected, but there wasn't enough proof for a conviction.

 

"I left the day I turned eighteen for college with a full ride scholarship. I stayed there the past five years, and after I finish up this year I'll have received my Masters in Behavioral Sciences and BA's in Criminology and Forensic Sciences. Then, I will enter the Academy and I'll be there twenty weeks for training before entering the BAU with that other agent you mentioned. Dr. Spencer Reid, right? He's a year and a half younger than me- Well, the new me anyways- so I shouldn't rise too many questions. Perfect background for my new identity. Meet Jaxon Tucker."

 

"Did you change your school records?"

 

"Yep. Excellent until my mom died when things start to get shaky. A few dropping grades and poor attendance. I picked up midway through and got high grades and good test scores and do all I can to get a scholarship and get away from my dad. Oh, and I added an older half-brother through my mom. He's seven years older than me."

 

"Alright. Does that change have a purpose?"

 

"Yeah. In case something comes up with my past, I'll need to be able to cite a family emergency somehow. Do you think I look almost twenty-four?"

 

Joe looked him up and down before saying, "Probably more like twenty to twenty-two, but your eyes…" he trailed off before saying firmly, "They shouldn't question you."

 

"Great. My college starts tomorrow, so I'm assuming everything I'll need, besides what I brought is taken care of."

 

"It's in your dorm. Your roommate is Dr. Reid. I figured you guys could start to get to know each other now rather than later."

 

"I'm not even going to ask how you managed to get that to work out."

 

Joe rolled his eyes, "Good. I'm driving you, there."

 

"Alright mother," Alex snarked. 

 

Joe shook his head fondly, and the pair left for Joe's car to arrive later that evening for dorm room check-in. 

\-----

 

**March 1, 2004**

 

Alex was sitting on his bed when the dorm room door opened hesitantly. A man with long, light brown stepped into the room with a tensed posture. When he saw Alex though some of his tension dissipated. Alex assumed this was due to him expecting ridicule for his age. He got that; he did train with the SAS after all.

 

Alex stood up and began to offer his hand when he noticed Dr. Reid tense, drew it back, and said, "Jaxon Tucker. Nice to meet you."

 

He looked surprised, before saying, "I'm Dr. Spencer Reid. You as well," he seemed to pause before asking, "How did you know I don't like to be touched? Most people have to be told and even then they find my aversion of touch to be odd."

 

Alex shrugged, "You tensed when I offered my hand, and I've met people with similar aversions, including, to an extent myself, though shaking hands is really the only friendly contact I'll allow."

 

"I heard you're going to be going into the FBI Academy after this year and later on the BAU with me," Dr. Reid said to change the topic.

 

"That's right."

 

"How old are you?" he blurted out, then he winced like he hadn't meant to actually ask the question.

 

"Six months from being twenty-four," Alex answered, seeing the surprised glint in Dr. Reid’s eyes he added, "Does that surprise you?"

 

"I was prepared to be one of the youngest agents here considering the average age for entering the FBI is 30-years-old. Not to mention you're already set to enter the BAU which shows a higher level of skill yet. All of which led me to expect you to be older, and I have lots of experience with people older than me disliking me because of my age," Dr. Reid said rapidly. 

 

"You expected to be underestimated. Don't worry. I often expect the same. Though, usually being underestimated works in my favor. They don't realize you're good until you already have them beat."

 

Dr. Reid smiled at him and Alex got the feeling that he and the doctor were going to get along just fine. 

\-----

 

**June 6, 2004**

 

Spencer looked nervously at Jaxon. They'd been in school together for three months now, and Jaxon's nightmares hadn't shown any signs of letting up. Realistically, Spencer knew that his childhood wasn't great- they had exchanged files after all- but he couldn't help but think that wasn't quite the issue. 

 

Spencer could read between the lines. It was one of the reasons he was accepted to join the BAU the following year. He realized the implications of abuse in Jaxon's file, but he couldn't help but think that some of his behaviors didn't seem to fit with that theory. 

 

Sure he avoided touch like most child abuse victims, and he suffered nightmares, but the nightmares didn't seem to fit with the abuse. He often lashed out while he slept as though fighting off an assailant. Most abuse victims who stayed with their guardians until they were eighteen rarely if ever, fought back. That wasn't even to mention his scars. 

 

They shared a dorm which made it difficult to not notice. None were consistent with abuse. Some could've been attributed to it, of course, but others looked more like torture marks than abuse marks. Spencer could tell the difference, they had studied similar things in their classes.

 

It just made him worry more for Jaxon. He already felt a strong protectiveness for his roommate, partially owing to the fact that he didn't think Jaxon was actually the age he said he was. He seemed younger, but he also seemed older, at least if Spencer looked into his eyes. Spencer figured that whatever he'd been through, must have been pretty bad.

 

"No, Jack," Jaxon's anguished murmuring broke through Spencer's thoughts. Spencer tensed, expecting to have to listen to Jaxon's fearful voice for a few hours when Jaxon did something he'd never done before. He dug his nails into his face. It was almost like he was trying to wash something off.

 

Spencer usually avoided waking Jaxon because he often freaked out when woken from a nightmare -- Spencer thought he might have PTSD to some extent --, but Spencer wasn't willing to watch his friend tear up his face. He cautiously walked to Jaxon and reached out to grab his shoulder.

 

The second Spencer touched Jaxon, he woke. His reaction, while anticipated, still shocked Spencer. Jaxon's hand shot up and wrapped around Spencer's arm. He twisted it to a position where if it went any further, it would break, and his other arm wrapped itself around Spencer's neck. It wasn't tight enough to limit his breathing, but it was tight enough to tell Spencer that if Jaxon desired, he wouldn't be breathing at all.

 

Spencer took a breath to stay calm and said, "It's okay Jaxon. It's me, Spencer. You're in our dorm room. You're fine."

 

After Spencer repeated the mantra several times, Jaxon seemed to come out of his dream-like trance, at least mostly. The slightly glazed look in his eye told Spencer that Jaxon wasn't completely with him.

 

He gave Spencer a look, that was so horribly out of character for Jaxon that Spencer was almost more shocked. It was the look that one would give their brother or best friend, and while Spencer was sure they got along quite well, he had never seen such a  _ pleasant  _ emotion on the other man's face.

 

"Ben?" Jaxon asked him, "What are you doing here?" 

 

He let go of Spencer, and Spencer raised a hand to rub at his throat. Spencer sighed and said, "Jaxon, I'm Spe-"

 

Jaxon furrowed his eyebrows and snorted as he interrupted Spencer, "Ben, why are you calling me Jaxon?"

 

Spencer froze. As much as he had thought the background did not match up, he hadn't expected for Jaxon to be an entirely false identity. As if Spencer had shocked him out of his trance, Jaxon jerked back into a tense posture and looked at Spencer in alarm.

 

Jaxon drew in a shaky breath, and when he released it, he looked much calmer, but not completely so as he said hesitantly, "Spencer, I-, I-"

 

"Don't Jaxon," Spencer cut him off, "I get it," Even though Spencer was very confused as to the specifics, he understood the need to have secrets. Never had Spencer thought to tell people that his mother was in a mental hospital. If Jaxon had felt the need to keep whatever had happened in his past a secret, Spencer would let him. There was no reason for Spencer to force Jaxon into reliving his past.

 

Jaxon looked skeptical so Spencer hurriedly continued, "You don't have to tell me. I trust you enough to believe that it is something that can be left in the past. The average person keeps about thirteen secrets at a time, and one in five people hide a major secret. It really isn't all that surprising."

 

Jaxon smiled at the rambling he had come to expect from his new friend, "Maybe someday, Spencer. Someday I'll tell you everything, but for now, you'll have to be content with knowing my secrets are there, buried they may be, but there. Knowing my secrets is dangerous. Even knowing my real name could get you into a heap of trouble, so someday in the future will have to be good enough for now."

 

Spencer nodded. That seemed fair to him. More than fair, in fact. He hadn't been expecting Jaxon to tell him anything. Spencer had been expecting him to dance around the topic without allowing Spencer to realize he had entirely avoided the subject until several hours later. It wouldn't have surprised Spencer; Jaxon was very skilled at avoiding things he didn't want to talk about.

 

"Trust me, Jaxon. It's plenty good."

\-----

**August 28, 2004**

 

Spencer was dashing around the dorm room quickly packing up everything that he had out. He was panting in excitement. When he looked up at Jaxon, who was sitting on his dresser both watching and laughing at him, he scowled -in good humor of course- and said, "And I suppose you already have all of your stuff packed up."

 

Jaxon laughed -- he'd been seeming less and less troubled by his past the last few months. His nightmares had almost entirely stopped, and for that, Spencer was very pleased. Waking Jaxon up was never fun -- and said, "Spence, you're assuming I unpacked at some point. I never unpack in case I need to leave in a hurry."

 

The way he said it made it clear that it hadn't seemed like an odd thing to say, but to Spencer, implications as to the effects Jaxon's past still had on him always made him angry. Not at Jaxon, but at whoever was responsible for whatever had happened to him. The idea that even after nearly six months here, Jaxon was still paranoid enough to always be ready to run, didn't sit well with Spencer.

 

Spencer tried to keep his emotions off of his face, really tried, but he knew Jaxon saw them when he said, "Spencer, I'm fine. It's just a safety precaution; I'm sure there are loads of FBI Agents that do it. You sure we should really be so excited to meet them?"

 

Spencer's face lit up again, the previous topic forgotten, "Of course, Jaxon. I can't wait to meet these people. It's going to be amazing. I'm so excited to get to work with Gideon."

 

Jaxon smiled, "You excited for academy  _ physical  _ training?"

 

Spencer blushed. It wasn't a secret that Spencer was less than skilled at some of the more physical aspects of training they were going to go through. Jaxon had been trying to teach him shooting skill, and Jaxon had the best aim Spencer had ever seen, but he was trying to teach Spencer a style he didn't use. When Spencer had asked him why he couldn't just teach him the style he was better at because it seemed to Spencer that Jaxon was going to a lot of trouble to try to teach not only Spencer but himself as well this other style, Jaxon had cleanly avoided the question leaving Spencer with the distinct impression that whatever the other style was, it wouldn't be accepted well among the FBI Agents.

 

"I'll get there, eventually," Spencer said.   
  


"I know," Jaxon said, and the two words made Spencer feel more confident because Spencer knew that Jaxon didn't like to lie. Manipulate people into believing something different than the truth? Yes. All the time. Tell straight out lies? No. Rarely ever.

 

"You ready to go?" Jaxon asked, looking at his phone, "Our ride is here."

\-----

 

Spencer felt a bit uncomfortable. Apparently, the man who was driving them to the academy knew Jaxon. Which was fine, whatever. But some of the man’s offhand comments gave Spencer the distinct impression that perhaps this man had quite a bit of power. The advice the man, "Joe" as Jaxon had called him, gave as they left the car was particularly supportive of this theory. 

 

"Have fun, Jaxon, Spencer. If any of the instructors, or trainees, give you any problems give me a call, and I'll work everything out for you."

 

Spencer and Jaxon both got out of the car, and Jaxon called back, "I don't doubt it. See you, Joe. Thanks for the ride."

 

"Anytime, kid," Joe mumbled as he drove away, but Spencer heard him, and he knew that Jaxon would've heard him too.

 

"Who-" Spencer started to ask, before Jaxon cut him off by saying, "Director of the CIA."

 

Spencer looked at Jaxon with sharp eyes. How would Jaxon know the Director of the CIA? It did likely explain a good deal about Jaxon. It explained how he got into the FBI at his young age. It also explained how he came to have a false name, and Spencer couldn't help but think that Jaxon had a good idea that it might lead him to the conclusion that Jaxon had previously worked in intelligence. Spencer couldn't think of another possible reason why Jaxon would've actually told him that fact, but it showed a lot of trust on Jaxon's part, and Spencer knew Jaxon didn't trust people easily.

 

"Got it," Spencer said with a smile, knowing that Jaxon would understand that he understood what Jaxon had been trying to tell him.

 


	2. FBI, Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to skip to the main point in my story instead of writing Alex and Spencer's training and introductions to the team since I figured it would be best to get the plot rolling. Sorry if that disappoints anyone, but there is a high likelihood that I will post those as connected one-shots at some point after the story is finished if people are interested, and I can make them interesting.
> 
> Current Status: Alex - 23 ½ years old. "Jaxon" - 29 years old. Spencer - 27 ½ years old.

**June 13, 2009**

Alex was sat at his desk, trying to ignore Spencer and Morgan's bickering and accomplish his paperwork at the same time, when Hotch came out of his office with JJ. Alex looked up when he heard the door click open, and Spencer, noticing his shift in attention, followed his eyes to where Hotch was standing.

"We have a case," he said flatly, and he and JJ entered the conference room.

Alex met Spencer's eyes as he stood up, straightening the papers on his desk as he did so. He flicked his eyes towards the conference room, wondering where this new case would bring them. Alex had done a lot of traveling when he'd been with MI6, too, but working for the BAU was nothing like MI6. With the FBI, he was given the information he needed, and most importantly, to Alex at least, he had his team to watch his back.

Said team started to move in the direction of the conference room. Alex jogged towards them and fell into step with Spencer. "Where do you think we're headed?"

"No clue," was Spencer's reply, before lowering his voice so that only Alex could hear him. "Was it just me or did Hotch look especially worried about this case?"

"I thought we weren't supposed to profile each other, Spence?" Alex teased. He stopped walking and looked Spencer in the eyes. "But, you're right. Only one way to find out."

It was a testament to how long the two had been with the BAU that their teammates barely even glanced back at the two of them. The whole team was close. That was a fact; it was hard not to be close with the people you relied on to watch your six. But, none of them could measure up to the trust that Alex had built with Spencer. Spencer knew things about him that the team couldn't even begin to fathom, and that was the way Alex preferred it. If he got his choice, he would just finish his FBI career and forget all about his beginnings in the world of espionage. Unfortunately, Alex knew that secrets like his rarely stayed buried for long. Sooner or later, the team was going to find out. Alex was just hoping it would be later.

\-----

When the team was all seated in the conference room, JJ started with her presentation of the case. "June 8, local law enforcement officers in Brandon, South Dakota found the bodies of Kate and Matthew Michaels (both 23 years old) stabbed to death in their cars by what appeared to be model planes. Their one-month-old son, Jacob, was left alive in the backseat."

JJ clicked a button and the photo of the couple's bodies appeared on the screen. She clicked again and the body of a young man, "June 10, they found the body of Ian Moore (36) in an old car at a scrapyard. Cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head.

"And finally, last night," JJ clicked and the body of a severely burnt woman appeared on the screen, "Lyla Cooper (26) found burnt to death inside her home."

"What's the connection between the bodies?" Morgan asked.

"Here's where it gets strange," JJ responded, "First off, this city hasn't had a murder in 12 years, making the four within 6 days shocking to them. But after this last death, they recognized a similar symbol left at each crime scene."

JJ made three images appear on the screen. She gestured to the first, a plastic scorpion model placed beneath the hands of the first to victims, "Toy scorpion found between Kate and Matthew," She gestured to the tattoo scorpion, "Post-mortem tattoo found on Ian Moore's foot, and a brand of a scorpion on Lyla Cooper's back. The locals are still unsure what the symbol means, but it's a clear connection between the three cases."

Emily had an odd look on her face as she looked up at the three pictures JJ had pulled up on the board. She squinted her eyes in thought.  _ Where did she recognize that symbol?  _ It was important. She knew that much, but where had she seen it? She looked over at Jaxon in time to notice a fleeting expression of surprise and  _ pain _ . Did he recognize the symbol as well? 

Before she could ask him, Hotch stood up."Wheels up in thirty. If the Unsub sticks to his timeframe, we'll have another murder tomorrow."

She turned to Jaxon to ask him about the brief-expression she had spotted on his face, but he was already out the door to grab his go-bag, and she decided it would probably be in her best interest to grab her own bag and get ready to go. She could always ask him later if she herself didn't remember.

\------

Alex left the conference room as quickly as he could to remove himself from Emily's curious gaze. He hadn't been able to contain his horror at seeing the sign of the terrorist organization he had brought down when he was fifteen. There was no way this was SCORPIA. SCORPIA was gone. At most, this was an ex-member who wanted revenge on Alex. The reminder didn't do anything to curb the panic that grew in the back of his mind whenever SCORPIA was mentioned.

It wouldn't be the first time. There had been one other case the team had investigated that Alex took time off to solve himself, but this one was different. This one clearly had some intimate information on Alex's life. Information that they shouldn't be able to know unless they were high up in SCORPIA, which Alex was fairly positive all of them were either in jail or dead, or they had gotten the information from someone on his so-called side, which was also unlikely; it had been a long five years since he'd seen any of them but Joe.

Each killing so far was mocking a death that had either led to his career as a spy or happened as a result of it, and whoever it was, Alex was going to make sure they were stopped, even if he had to tell the team his secret. Though, he would prefer, if it didn't come to that.

"Jax?" Spencer's voice called out to him, "You good?"

Alex contemplated telling Spencer about his suspicions but decided to wait. It would take a long time to explain, and that was time they didn't have. "I'm fine, Spence."

The look in Spencer's eyes told Alex that he wasn't believed, but Spencer didn't call him out on it, for which he was thankful. 

\-----

Spencer knew the look in Jaxon's eyes, and he knew that he wasn't going to get his answer just then. Jaxon told him he'd see him on the plane, and he pulled out his phone. "Joe? It's me…"

Something  _ was  _ going on, and Spencer's gut told him that it wasn't going to be anything good. Not for the team. Not for Jaxon. And especially, not for whoever had come up with the bright idea to put Jaxon in this mood.

\-----

The team was seated on the plane, going over the contradictions of the case, when Emily  _ finally  _ remembered where she'd seen the Scorpion symbol before.

"SCORPIA," she murmured.

"Sorry? What was that Prentiss?" Rossi asked, slight amusement leaking into his voice.

Emily looked up at her team, noticing, dismissing the tension in Jaxon's shoulders, and said, "The Scorpion is the symbol of SCORPIA -- a terrorist organization that I was under the impression has been gone for eight years."

"Could it be someone with ties to the group?" Morgan asked, "Maybe they're trying to make a statement that they aren't gone."

"Maybe," said Hotch, "But that doesn't account for the variation in MO. First case: clear overkill. Second: a simple gunshot. Third: signs of torture."

"Multiple Unsubs?" Rossi asked.

"Or the way they're being killed means something," Reid said, his eyes flitting to Jaxon as he spoke.

The team looked at him in interest, and he continued, "Think about it. Maybe the Unsub is personally connected to the killings, and they relate in some way to his past. Or maybe the Unsub is taunting someone else using events from their past to draw their attention for some reason."

"Interesting thought, Reid," Hotch said with a hum of appreciation, "It could definitely explain the variation in MO. What do you think, Tucker?"

\------

Alex startled from his thoughts when Hotch addressed him, but luckily he'd always been able to react on his toes so his response left his lips instinctively. "I'm with Reid. A group of Unsubs wouldn't deviate this much from each other."

For a second Alex considered telling them that he knew Spencer was right, but he decided against it. With any luck, he'd make it through the case without the team discovering the truth of his past. He wasn't going to bank on it though. Luck of the devil was great when it saved his life, but it got him into far too much trouble for it not equally be considered a curse.

 

Government SUVs were waiting for them when the plane touched down in Sioux Falls Regional Airport. After a twenty-two minute drive to the police station in Brandon, they were greeted by the captain of the police force, "Thanks for getting here so fast. I'm Captain Cutler."

Hotch shook the man's hand and introduced the team. "Senior Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner and these are Supervisory Special Agents Reid, Tucker, Morgan, Rossi, Jareau, and Prentiss. Is there somewhere we can set up?"

"Of course," Cutler said, leading them to a nearby office, "I hope you all can catch the person doing this. It's been twelve years since we've had a murder, and everyone is starting to get scared. We got under ten thousand people in this town. This case is personal for a lot of people."

"Do you have any suspects?" Hotch asked.

"No," was Cutler's reply, "We only just managed to tie the three together. I don't know anyone here capable of doing something like this though."

"We don't want to rule anything out yet, but there is a good chance they are from out of town."

"Here's your office. Sorry, it's so small. We don't have a very big station here."

"It's no problem. Thank you, Captain," Hotch replied, and the man left. "Alright, Prentiss and Morgan go check out the first crime scene. Rossi and Reid go to the second. JJ, stay here and filter calls from the media. Tucker, you're with me to the most recent crime scene.

Alex nodded at Hotch letting him know that he heard what he said. Hotch's gaze lingered on Alex a bit longer than typical with a look as if he was trying to work out a particularly complex puzzle, or since it was Hotch, a particularly complex case.

\-----

Aaron pulled up at Lyla Cooper's house and he and Tucker got out of the SUV. Aaron resisted the urge to ask Tucker why this case bothered him so much. It wouldn't do to make the younger man even jumpier than he was.  _ Though, it would probably be in his best interests to never admit to Jaxon that he called him jumpy.  _ It was doubtful he would appreciate the description.

When the two entered the house, Hotch immediately turned his attention to the officer standing inside the door. "I'm Agent Hotchner. What have you found so far?" He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Jaxon had wandered into the center of the room and was observing everything with a critical eye. That kid had one of the sharpest eyes on his whole team, even if he was paranoid as hell and kept more secrets than anyone else Hotch knew.

The officer looked relieved. "FBI, right? I'm Officer Gregor. Thank goodness you guys are here. We got nothing. No prints. No weapon. No signs of forced entry. None of us know what to think."

"Did you know the victim, Officer Gregor?"

"Yeah. Sweet kid. Her father used to be on the force 'fore he died in a car crash." The man paused briefly and glanced cautiously at where Jaxon had been standing last Hotch checked. "What's your partner doing?"

Hotch looked at Jaxon to see him standing on a table looking down at the crime scene. He couldn't fault the officer for his surprise. The first time he saw Jaxon do this at a crime scene, he had been equally as confused, and his reaction had been a slight overreaction if Spencer's snickering had been any indication. "He's trying to get a different perspective. Now if you'll excuse me, officer. I'm going to give him a hand with that."

"Of course, Agent Hotchner. I need to get back to the station anyway. I hope you guys catch the bastard that did this." Officer Gregor left the room with only a slight glance back at Jaxon. He scrunched up his eyes as if it pained him to see someone standing on a table at a crime scene, and Hotch had to hold in his amusement. The kid was unorthodox, but his methods worked, though Hotch did wish he'd keep his feet on the ground when local law enforcement was in the room.  
Hotch looked up at Jaxon. "Find anything?"

"I don't think she was killed here." Jaxon didn't look at Hotch as he responded, eyes locked on the scorch mark on the ground. He crouched down so that only his toes were balanced on the edge of the table.

Hotch drew in a sharp breath. Jaxon was going to give him heart failure someday whether he fell off something or not. "Why not?"

"You saw the crime scene photos. If she was killed here there would've been more damage done to the ground. This fire was controlled. Planned." 

Hotch looked at the ground where Jaxon was pointing. That wasn't something he would've noticed if Jaxon hadn't pointed it out. Unsubs didn't usually go to the effort of pretending someone was killed in a certain location if they weren't so why did this one. Hotch was about to ask Jaxon his opinion on that very question when his phone rang.

\-----

Alex looked at Hotch as he answered the phone. "Hotch… What?" Hotch's face went blank as he listened to whatever the caller was telling him. "We'll be there in a minute." Hotch hung up the phone with a grave look on his face. "Time frame changed. We got another crime scene."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everyone. I hope you enjoyed it. If anyone has suggestions to better write any of the characters, let me know your thoughts. I love to hear all of your opinions.   
> Dobby and Padfoot: Out. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought. :)


End file.
